Cricket South Africa’s new selectors have announced their first squad, featuring a largely predictable group of players. South Africa will play New Zealand in a limited overs series beginning next week with two Twenty20s and three one-day internationals to look forward to.

As expected, AB de Villiers returns to the side after paternity leave, while JP Duminy and Morné Morkel will both sit out of the one-day series as their wives are both due to give birth. Quinton de Kock will miss out on both the one-day internationals and Twenty20s as he has been sent to repent for his poor form on a South African A-team tour.

Morné van Wyk, who did not make the World Cup squad, has been recalled in a like-for-like replacement. Van Wyk is likely to slot into the opening berth at the top of the order in one-day internationals, unless South Africa once again opt for the maverick move of putting De Villiers in that slot, as they did in the Twenty20 series against Bangladesh.

Van Wyk will, however, not keep in the Twenty20 format, with De Villiers taking over those duties. Whether De Villiers opens and keeps wicket in the Twenty20s remains to be seen. Selectors admitted that Van Wyk is a short-term solution and they will be hoping De Kock regains his form sooner rather than later as there is a World Twenty20 to plan for next year. It’s somewhat harsh on an experienced campaigner like Van Wyk, but such is the nature of the beast that is international cricket.

Coach Russell Domingo was confident young De Kock will be back to his best soon enough.

“All players go through slumps in form and time away from the pressures of international cricket can be beneficial, particularly for a young player. We are hoping he can regain that confidence, work on one or two technical aspects and come back into the South African squad – when that is we are not sure – in a good space and putting in the performances we know he is capable of. He doesn’t become a bad player after an ankle injury and eight or nine bad one-day internationals.

“With a string of low scores comes a little bit of self-doubt, lacking belief in your own performances, lacking belief in the way you are going about your preparation because it’s not really working for you and you might try and change things leading into games. Time away from the side will do him good, put things in perspective for him, and help him to get that desire and hunger back to play for the national side.”

Other notable returns to the one-day side are Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn, who both missed the one-day series in Bangladesh. Kagiso Rabada has retained his place, which leaves some interesting selection quandaries for the third pace bowler in the one-day team. Steyn and Philander are likely to be first choice, and Rabada and Kyle Abbott the options for the third choice seamer.

Spinner duties will see Imran Tahir, Aaron Phangiso and Eddie Leie slog it out. South Africa could, of course, play four seamers if they opt to leave Farhaan Behardien out of the staring XI for the one-day team. Logic has finally prevailed with David Wiese, who has been included in the one-day side and will most likely make his debut with Ryan McLaren, Wayne Parnell and Chris Morris both booted out of the squad. That will mean Steyn, Philander, Rabada, Abbott, a spinner and Wiese will share the 50 overs between them. Behardien has served in an “all-rounder” role, but has not been overly impressive in that context.

Overall, though, the one-day matches are largely inconsequential. South Africa have already qualified for the Champions Trophy and the result of the series won’t really affect their future planning. The next World Cup is still four years away and a lot can change in that time. The series will serve some sort of purpose in prepping the side for their tour to India, but bilateral one-day series remain largely without context and serve little purpose other than offering a distraction and a revenue stream.

The Twenty20s hold a bit more weight as there is a world tournament to build towards, but with so much Twenty20 cricket played across the world these days, it’s barely more than a smidgen. With South Africa’s domestic season not having started yet, it would have been difficult to try out rookies.

That is perhaps why Van Wyk finds himself slotting into a position where he is nothing more than a stop-gap, especially in the Twenty20 side. According to Domingo, it’s because De Villiers struggles with keeping and captaining more in the one-day international format more than anywhere else.

“AB finds it extremely challenging keeping wicket, batting number and captaining the side. Of all the formats, he finds the one-day international wicketkeeping role the most mentally and physically draining. AB has also got a history of cramping. We are pretty happy for him not to keep there,” Domingo said.

It seems brutally unfair on a player like Van Wyk and one would forgive him for feeling just a little bit of ire. DM

Photo: South Africa’s Wayne Parnell (C), captain Faf du Plessis (R) and David Wiese celebrate after Parnell took the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene during their final Twenty 20 match in Hambantota August 6, 2013. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte